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The WCOID – Day 8, On Sad Jokes

The Writing Challenge of Indeterminate Duration – Day 8Tell the world’s saddest joke.

I very nearly rejected this prompt. In fact, I initially set it aside to go looking for another topic. But even while I was looking for something more “substantial,” my mind kept going back to sad jokes.

I know bad jokes, dumb jokes and sick jokes; jokes that make you roll your eyes, inappropriate jokes only terrible people would laugh at … and a make you realize what a terrible person you are and ones that just aren’t funny but you laugh at anyway because your boss told it. I know blonde joke, Polish jokes and gay jokes; puns and limericks and knock-knock jokes. I know jokes that come wrapped around a piece of bubblegum, jokes on Popsicle sticks where you run the risk of an ice-cream headache to get to the punchline and I remember jokes printed on little Dixie cups.

But sad jokes? I can’t say that I’ve ever heard a sad joke; or maybe I have and just didn’t recognize it for what it was. Just what is a sad joke anyway? Is the content of the joke the sad part, or is it the delivery that makes it sad? That is, is a joke is about Eeyore, Debbie Downer or Shleprock automatically sad because it’s about a sad person (or stuffed Donkey), or is any joke told by them made sad because of who’s telling it?

I was interested and intrigued by the idea of sad jokes, but I didn’t feel writing one carried much weight as a writing exercise. But then I thought, “What if I proclaimed Sundays Anything Can Happen Sunday (thanks BBT) and made today Post Participation Day … I’m a Baroness, I can totally do that shit. I told myself it would be a great idea, and that I’m continually astounded by the depths of my creative genius. Then I called myself a kiss-ass under my breath.

So it’s now officially Post Participation Day on the first ever Anything Can Happen Sunday, and you’re all invited to share a sad joke based on you’re own interpretation of what a sad joke is. And don’t be shy! Remember, even if your joke is terrible, your failure alone is sad, so it would still qualify as a sad joke. It’s a no-lose situation!